THE Department of Finance urged businesses to quickly adapt to the digital economy for them to thrive under the “New, Better Normal,” especially if the country eases to Alert Level 1 status by the start of the new year.
According to Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil S. Beltran, the ecosystem for the digital push is being shaped by several government measures to support innovation.
Beltran said these measures include the following: a liberal regulatory regime for financial technology firms; digital innovations that improved the monitoring of capital markets; and, shifting government transactions, including tax payments, online.
Economic managers had earlier said they expect the country to achieve Alert Level 1 by the “onset of the New Year” “given the arrival of an adequate supply of vaccines and an ‘aggressive’ Covid-19 inoculation program” starting in the third quarter of the year.
Under Alert Level 1, all businesses are allowed to operate at full-site capacity, subject to minimum public health standards.
“We are all looking forward to the new and better normal. Our businesses should prepare to thrive under the terms of this new economy,” Beltran said at the 47th Philippine Business Conference and Expo organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “[Businesses] must adapt more quickly to the new market realities created by digital technology.”
Beltran added the country should also take advantage of a “demographic sweet spot” wherein its work force is made up of “mostly young and talented people ready to swiftly adjust to the transformations taking place in the new economy.”
The DOF official noted that the government applied technological innovations such as the electronic filing and payment of tax dues initiated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Beltran also cited the ongoing modernization of the Bureau of Customs and the operations of the Overseas Filipino Bank, the Philippines’s first official digital-only bank.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the BIR have also been working together to ensure that financial technology companies are properly regulated and taxed while encouraging their growth and continued innovation, he added.
The finance official also urged businesses to “be green” and use more renewables, noting that climate change will hit the country harder than the pandemic did.
“We must prepare for severe weather, droughts and all other damaging effects caused by global warming,” Beltran said. “Our businesses must learn to thrive in the face of these conditions.”
He said the Philippines should “become a role model for other countries by mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation projects in our business processes.”
Beltran vowed that government banks “stand ready to provide financing for green and environment-friendly projects.”